Changes in XSLT 2.0

The important concepts in this chapter are largely unchanged from XSLT 1.0. The most significant changes are as follows :

• There are some terminology changes. Top-level elements are now called declarations. Templates (or template bodies as I called them in previous editions of this book) are now called sequence constructors-most people used the word template incorrectly to refer to an <xsl:template> element, and the new terminology bows to popular usage. Some of the terms previously used in this book but not in the official specification are now official (an example is the term stylesheet module ).

• Some new declarations and instructions have been introduced.

• The concept of backwards -compatibility mode has been introduced. This is invoked when a stylesheet specifies «xsl:version="1.0" » and causes certain constructs to be handled in a way that is compatible with XSLT 1.0.

• The use-when attribute is introduced to allow parts of a stylesheet to be conditionally included or excluded at compile time.

• In other areas, there has been a general tightening up of the rules. For example, the effect of specifying «xml:space="preserve" » in a stylesheet is now described much more precisely.